The demand for High-Speed Internet Access (HSIA) is driving the telecommunications industry like few forces have in the past. While the Cable and Telephone industry position their networks for the future, ever-changing technology has previously made it both costly and risky to invest in new delivery systems.
Most current approaches for delivery of internet services in MDUs (“Multiple Dwelling Units”) utilize telephone wiring in “data above voice” configurations. Such approaches usually require selective identification and disconnection of each telephone pair and the insertion of a modem function at the central end of the telephone loop. Such intrusive installation is both costly and time consuming. A second modem is required at the user end of the telephone pair to connect to the user's PC (“Personal Computer”) or in-home network. Since MDU telephone wiring generally has a worse inter-pair crosstalk performance than that of outside wiring and suffers considerable electrical ingress interference, data is usually inserted on the telephone loop within the building to ensure adequate performance. The high frequency loss of longer telephone loops between the central office and the MDU considerably limits potential two-way transmission speed for longer telephone loops.
The use of low-cost wireless data transmission works well where the distances are short and spectrum is abundant. However, for densely populated MDUs, this is not usually the case.